Despite the lack of sufficient LTE coverage in parts of the world, mobile operators and vendors have already embarked on R&D initiatives to develop 5G, the next evolution in mobile networks. 5G is expected to provide a single network environment to deliver not only existing mobile broadband and IoT services, but also new innovations such as self-driving cars, cloud robotics, 3D holographic telepresence and remote surgery with haptic feedback.

In fact, many mobile operators are betting on 5G to diversify their revenue streams, as conventional voice and data service ARPUs decline globally. For example, South Korea’s KT has established a dedicated business unit for holograms, which it envisions to be a key source of revenue for its future 5G network.

At present, the 3GPP and other SDOs (Standards Development Organizations) are engaged in defining the first phase of 5G specifications. However, pre-standards 5G network rollouts are already underway, most notably in the United States and South Korea, as mobile operators rush to be the first to offer 5G services. SNS Research estimates that by the end of 2017, pre-standards 5G network investments are expected to account for over $250 Million.

Although 2020 has conventionally been regarded as the headline date for 5G commercialization, the very first standardized deployments of the technology are expected to be commercialized as early as 2019 with the 3GPP’s initial 5G specifications set to be implementation-ready by March 2018. Between 2019 and 2025, we expect the 5G network infrastructure market to aggressively grow a CAGR of nearly 70%, eventually accounting for $28 Billion in annual spending by the end of 2025. These infrastructure investments will be complemented by annual shipments of up to 520 Million 5G-capable devices.

The report comes with an associated Excel datasheet suite covering quantitative data from all numeric forecasts presented in the report, as well as a 5G deployment tracking database covering over 60 global 5G trials, demos and commercial deployment commitments (as of Q1’2017).”

Market forecasts are provided for each of the following submarkets and their subcategories:

5G R&D Investments

New Air Interface & Millimeter Wave Radio Access

MIMO, Beamforming & Advanced Antenna Technologies

Spectrum Sharing, Aggregation & Interference Management

Virtualization & Cloud RAN

Network Slicing & Other Technologies

Pre-Standards 5G Network Investments

Pre-Standards Base Stations

Pre-Standards User Equipment

Transport Networking & Other Investments

Standardized 5G Infrastructure Investments

5G NR (New Radio)

Distributed Macrocell Base Stations

Small Cells

RRHs (Remote Radio Heads)

C-RAN BBUs (Baseband Units)

NextGen (Next Generation) Core Network

Fronthaul & Backhaul Networking

Standardized 5G User Equipment Investments

Handsets

Tablets

Embedded IoT Modules

USB Dongles

Routers

5G Operator Services

Subscriptions

Service Revenue

Regional Segmentation

Asia Pacific

Eastern Europe

Latin & Central America

Middle East & Africa

North America

Western Europe

The report provides answers to the following key questions:

How big is the opportunity for 5G network infrastructure, user equipment and operator services?

What trends, challenges and barriers will influence the development and adoption of 5G?

How will 5G drive the adoption of AR (Augmented Reality)/VR (Virtual Reality) applications such as 3D holographic telepresence and 360 degree streaming of live events?

How have advanced antenna and chip technologies made it possible to utilize millimeter wave spectrum for mobile communications in 5G networks?

How can non-orthogonal multiple access schemes such as RSMA (Resource Spread Multiple Access) enable 5G networks to support higher connection densities for Millions of IoT devices?

What will be the number of 5G subscriptions in 2019 and at what rate will it grow?

Which regions and countries will be the first to adopt 5G?

Which frequency bands are most likely to be utilized by 5G networks?

Who are the key 5G vendors and what are their strategies?

Will 5G networks rely on a disaggregated RAN architecture?

How will 5G impact the fiber industry?

Will satellite communications and aerial networking platforms play a wider role in 5G networks?

The report has the following key findings:

The Unites States and South Korea are spearheading early investments in pre-standards 5G trial networks, as mobile operators rush to be the first to offer 5G networks. SNS Research estimates that by the end of 2017, pre-standards 5G network investments are expected to account for over $250 Million.

Following completion of the 3GPP’s first phase of 5G specifications in March 2018, SNS Research expects that early adopters across the globe will simultaneously begin commercializing 5G services in 2019.

Between 2019 and 2025, we expect the 5G network infrastructure market to aggressively grow a CAGR of nearly 70%, eventually accounting for $28 Billion in annual spending by the end of 2025.

Although early 5G R&D investments have primarily targeted the radio access segment, network-slicing has recently emerged as necessary “”end-to-end”” capability to guarantee performance for different 5G applications which may have contrasting requirements.

In order to support diverse usage scenarios, 5G networks are expected to utilize a variety of frequency bands ranging from established sub-6 GHz cellular bands to millimeter wave spectrum.